Kolkata: In wake of the terror attack in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, a senior officer of the Kolkata police on Thursday claimed that the force was well-prepared to tackle any such attack.
"Our force will be able to handle any terrorist attack here in the city," a senior officer of the Kolkata Police said. In the wake of Monday's Gurdaspur attack, security in and around the city has been beefed up.
Admitting that though the force has 'limited' hands, he said, "We have limited resources. But we have the capability to deal with terror-like crisis like this. We are quite confident of handling any situation here. Our force, our officers all are well-trained and they are in good shape. We can fight with this."
The Kolkata police currently has around 27,000 police personnel in its ranks, which includes around 2,000 Green Police and Home Guards.
Besides, they have units like the Rapid Action Force, Commandos and Special Action Force (SAF), High Radio Flying Squad (HRFS) and Radio Flying Squad (RFS).
According to the IPS officer, soon after the 26/11 Mumbai attack, the city police had formed the Special Action Force (SAF) in a bid to put in place an even stronger force. "The SAF has been trained for action in urban zones with minimum casualties among civilians.
"After the Mumbai attacks, most of the metros have started building up such an elite force. In fact the union home ministry wanted all city police units to have specialised units," he said.
The presence of National Security Guard (NSG) Regional Hubs in Madhyagram and Rajarhat is a "positive point for Kolkata Police", he said.
Having NSG hubs here will definitely help us if terror strikes the city," he said, adding, the police organises mock drills to counter situations like this.
The Kolkata police has also deployed special units at major stations, junctions and at several entry points to the city to avert any untoward incident.
On whether the force has got any unit of snipers, generally used during such crisis, the officer said, "We do not have any such unit, but if needed as per the situation we have our best shooters in our force."
Elaborate security arrangements have also been made by the Kolkata police. Vigil has been heightened at Metro stations, market areas in the city as well as at the ghats along the banks of the Hooghly.
"In fact, the city police is also planning to use drones to keep a vigil in the busy and happening areas in the city and its vicinity," the senior IPS officer said.
Kolkata police have sought a report from Metro Railways authorities on the scanners at Metro Railway platforms after complaints poured in that most of them were rendered non-operational.
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